"Green Bullet" Director Yugo Sakamoto x Masayuki Ino Budget and scale don't matter, as long as it's fun, that's fine! [Director's Interview Vol.234]

In 2021, Yutaka Sakamoto, a 26-year-old film director, has become a hot topic with the successive works he released in 2021, including ``A Certain Janitor ,'' ``Baby Warukyure ,'' ``The Yellow Dragon Village,'' and ``The Legend of the Strongest Killer Kunioka [Complete Edition].'' I. Although each work has a different tone and scale, what stands out in all of them is the sharpness of the action. Whether the content is serious or silly, once the action scenes begin, you can feel the seriousness of the action.

This work ``Green Bullet'' is a sequel to `` The Legend of the Strongest Killer Kunioka [Complete Edition] ''. The previous film was a mockumentary about the legendary assassin Kunioka, played by director Sakamoto's ally Masayuki Ino, but this time Kunioka decides to train six apprentice assassins at a training camp. The six apprentices will be played by 2021 Miss Magazine winners Yoshii Izumi, Masaya Yamaoka, Kiki Amano, Yui Tsuji (Shinnyo Tsuji is one point), Rino Oshima, and Karen Naito. What kind of chemical reaction did these six people, Director Sakamoto, and Ino have? What do director Sakamoto and Ino think about action movies? We spoke to both of them.

Index

• The sequel was decided before the first film was released.
• Kunioka and 6 Miss Magazine
• Even if the scale changes, what we do remains the same
• Actions we mastered ourselves
• This is a movie I made because I love “Susuk”!

The sequel was decided before the first film was released.

Q: This work is a sequel to "The Legend of the Strongest Killer Kunioka [Complete Edition]". Could you tell us about the origin of the production?

Sakamoto: When I was taking promotional photos for `` The Legend of the Strongest Killer Kunioka [Complete Edition] '', King Records told me that they wanted to make a movie with the six Miss Magazine members. When I said, ``In that case, let's do it here at Kunioka,'' people said, ``Yes!'' and within the same day, the conversation got heated to the point that ``Kunioka would become an instructor and train six students.'' I wrote the plot immediately after that, and planning started two weeks later.

Q: So, during the promotional preparations before the screening, there was already talk of a sequel.

Sakamoto: That's right. There was a poster of Kunioka standing alone with shopping bags and a gun, and that was exactly when he was taking that photo.

“The Legend of the Strongest Killer Kunioka” Preview

Q: Did you have any ideas for a sequel at that point?

Sakamoto: Yes. I was already thinking of three or four different stories, and then I got this Miss Magazine story, so I thought, ``Well, it's a training camp story,'' and just made ``Green Bullet.'' I would be happy if Kunioka could continue to do various projects in the future.

Q: This time, like last time, it has a mockumentary format, but it has more elements of a feature film. Were you conscious of that balance?

Sakamoto: In the previous work, there was a lot of ad-libbing, and a lot of adaptations were made from the script on set. On the other hand, this time, ``Green Bullet'' had a proper script, but most of the six members of Miss Magazine were acting for the first time, so they filmed it with four cameras. I tried to create an environment where they wouldn't feel nervous. However, it was quite interesting on set, as the actors themselves said, ``That take just didn't go well.''

“Green Bullet” ©2022 “Green Bullet” Production Committee

Q: So you didn't do too many takes?

Ino: There weren't that many takes. I think it was just a matter of trying out some more action scenes.

Sakamoto: Basically, I just kept taking pictures. I tend to end up doing a lot of ad-libbing, probably because I don't often ask people to do things like this. If that happens, it will inevitably become harder to get NGs. Also, Karen Naito, who plays Okita, screamed "I bit you!" several times, and Kiki Amano, who played Kamisato, made a lot of noise (lol).

Kunioka and 6 Miss Magazine